Control arm, ball joint or bushing failure on the 1999 Honda Accord
When control arm, ball joint or bushing failure gets reported
Owners of the 1999 Honda Accord report control arm, ball joint or bushing failure at a median of 132,500 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 105,000 miles and a quarter after 165,000 miles, from 44 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 108,000 miles. It is the 7th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 77,500 miles at the tenth percentile to 202,500 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 123,960 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
0% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 78,040 miles | 105,922 miles | 131,500 miles | 165,000 miles | 202,000 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $400–$2,200 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 15 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2003, at a median of 10,000 miles, and latest on the 2000 at 165,000 miles.
By volume the 2000 carries the most reports, with 79; the 1999 has 51. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Upon inspection of vehicle by certified mechanic the subframe(cross member) was found unsafe and rusted out on the passenger side with holes and broken. It was determined a safety issue and failed inspection. Looks like a design flaw that collected water. Expensive part and repair. Honda is not covering it. The rest of the undercarriage and frame was in good condition. *tr
I have a honda accord ex and the subframe rotted all the way thought. How is that possible? As I look on the internet I see that it is a common issue on accords. Is honda aware of this? *tr
I was alerted to a potential problem with the subframe of my vehicle that has caused me to park it. The problem is that the rear subframe has rusted to the point that it is broken in three places. The rear subframe is located in the rear part of the engine compartment and supports the engine and front suspension. I was driving this car for an unknown length of time in this condition. I was informed that this is a safety concern and that the car should not be driven. The portion of the subframe that attaches to the sway bar is completely broken loose from the frame. The location of the rust is under the outlet of the air conditioning condensate drain. This is the only location where the sub frame is rusted. The distilled water coming out of the air conditioner is corrosive to metals. In my opinion this is a design defect that could have been repaired using a very modest cost hose, fitting and perhaps a clamp to re-route the condensate drain away from the structural members of the car. Repair of this problem has been quoted at $1600. The car is unsafe to drive. The center for auto safety has requested a recall of these vehicles…
Also reported on the 1999 Honda Accord
Ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure
Other powertrain problem
Other electrical problem
Other engine problem
Complete transmission failure
Other body or interior problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 51 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does control arm, ball joint or bushing failure happen on the 1999 Honda Accord?
Across 44 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 132,500 miles. A quarter were filed before 105,000 miles and a quarter after 165,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is control arm, ball joint or bushing failure on the 1999 Honda Accord?
51 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.5 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed